Soaring Higher

Soaring Higher: Student returns to LHU to complete his degree after more than 35 years

Thomas O’Neill is not your typical Lock Haven University senior. He has returned to
The Haven after more than 35 years, to complete a bachelor’s degree in psychology
and interdisciplinary studies that he began in 1983. He will receive his long-awaited
LHU degree, which will able him to continue his teaching career and further his pursuit
of helping people, during the spring commencement ceremony on Saturday.

When O’Neill graduated from Shenandoah Valley High School in 1981, he said he could
not spell or construct grammatically correct sentences due to severe dyslexia. He
also had 75 percent hearing loss in both ears, was labeled as being “slow” and was
“pushed through the system.” Although he said this was common at the time, he believes
good teachers can and will pick up on a student’s difficulties to help them get the
support they need. This belief stuck with him and has been the basis of his teaching
and world travels, where he focuses on helping others.

In 1983, O’Neill transferred to LHU from Keystone Junior College, but left The Haven
in 1985 without earning a degree. In 1991, following his passion for teaching and
helping those in need, he travelled to Ecuador to volunteer building sugarcane huts
for impoverished agricultural workers. There, he also taught English to children in
the hills of Duran near Guayaquil Bay.

“I found the people of Ecuador to be extremely kind,” O’Neill said. “The volunteers
who worked in Ecuador did so without running water or electricity. The children and
adults who lived there with us were extremely caring and eager to assist us with our
daily tasks. My experiences there changed me profoundly and made me a much better
person.”

In 1992 he worked at an AIDS center in Brisbane, Australia, and volunteered with Mother
Theresa’s Missionary of Charity organization in Calcutta, India. “The volunteers worked
with patients who were sick and dying,” O’Neill said. “I truly enjoyed the time I
spent with Mother Theresa and her nuns. Before I left India, Mother Theresa told me
I was a witness to the power of love.”

After returning to the United States, he was employed in a variety of different positions.
He then moved back to his hometown of Shenandoah and worked as an intensive case manager
with Schuylkill County mental health until his position was outsourced due to lack
of county funding.

“When I got laid off from the Schuylkill County government, I worked for a student
exchange program,” O’Neill said. “One of my responsibilities was finding host families
for foreign exchange students and that is what led me to China. I worked as an ESL
teacher from 2009 to 2018 at the Suzhou International Foreign Language School, in
Suzhou, China.”

O’Neill said students, in America and around the world, all put great emphasis on
getting into the right colleges and earning the right degrees to help them in their
personal career goals and aspirations. “Education, after all, does provide us with
boundless opportunities, and an educated society enhances the overall well-being of
its nation,” he said. “If a teacher takes the time to positively impact a student's
life, they are changing the world, one person at a time. That kindness will be remembered
long after the lesson plans are forgotten, because it leaves an indelible imprint
in one’s heart and soul.”

After being informed by his employer in China that he needed a bachelor’s degree from
an accredited institution in order to continue teaching there, he decided to return
to LHU.

“I quickly noticed that Lock Haven University is quite different today from when I
was here 35 years ago,” he said. Despite the changes, O’Neill has completed his coursework
and will earn a degree in in psychology and interdisciplinary studies, allowing him
to continue his lifelong mission of personal growth and service to others.

Following graduation, O’Neill will return to his teaching career in China and plans
to continue his education online in hopes of earning a master’s degree in counseling.
“I will be proud to let people know that I am a graduate of Lock Haven University
and I know my students in China will also benefit from my LHU education,” he said.

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Lock Haven University’s main campus is located on the West Branch of the Susquehanna
River in the scenic mountains of Pennsylvania. The university offers 49 undergraduate
majors and certifications with 47 minors and five graduate programs.

LHU is a member of Pennsylvania’s State System, the largest provider of higher education
in the Commonwealth. Its 14 universities offer more than 2,300 degree and certificate
programs in more than 530 academic areas of study. Nearly 520,000 system alumni live
and work in Pennsylvania.